This invention relates generally to farming implements. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for pre-cutting old rice levees to prepare them for total destruction by conventional discs towed, for example, at the rear of a tractor.
In Arkansas rice is usually planted between the middle of April and the middle of May. Harvesting may occur between the middle of September and the middle of November. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the rice farming art, standing water is divided into pockets and contained therewithin by levees which facilitate flooding. Before harvesting the rice, the standing water is drained off and the fields are substantially dried. After harvesting, perhaps in the late fall of the year, the field levees are torn up to help prepare the fields for subsequent crop rotation.
Typically rear mounted plows or disc units are towed from tractors to destroy levees and tear up the soil to facilitate subsequent replanting for the next growth cycle. However, particularly in gumbo soil, the plow or disk apparatus may become jammed. This is particularly true when encountering relatively high levees. Another problem with high levees is that they may hit and damage the undercarriage of the towing tractor, which necessarily straddles the levees. Hence, it is desirable to provide some form of front mounted apparatus for pretreating levees in the destruction process. However, such apparatus must preserve the steering ability of the tractor, and it must be extremely resistant to severe twisting or torsional forces encountered, for example, when tracking curved or irregular levees or when buried obstacles such as rock or the like are hit.
In the prior art a wide variety of agricultural implements have been proposed which may conceivably be employed for levee treatment. U.S. Pat. No. 2,414,994 depicts a bulldozer in which a front mounted plow prepares ground for subsequent pipe installation. Hydraulic means are provided for controlling the apparatus from the front of the bulldozer. U.S. Pat. No. 2,582,538 depicts a bulldozer in which a front mounted pair of angularly inclined discs are employed to treat soil. U.S. Pat. No. 3,224,392 discloses a system including a plurality of angularly arranged discs mounted both at the front and at the rear of a conventional tractor. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,762,283; 4,181,181 and 3,145,781 broadly depict apparatus controlled through hydraulics which may be mounted at the front of a tractor.
Federal German Pat. No. 962,382 broadly depicts a soil treating system in which a plow assembly is mounted intermediate the front and drive wheels of the tractor device. Canadian Pat. No. 527,071 broadly depicts a tractor implement in which front mounted, angularly inclined discs, along with a plurality of related equipment and parts, are operationally secured at the front end of a tractor.